Mumbai:
When the collision between cargo ships MV Khalijia and the MSC Chitra happened, there was a private tug - Vamsee 3 - that was escorting MV Khalijia into the Mumbai port.
The crew and the captain were among the few eyewitnesses to the accident who say Khalijia may have had a steering gear problem.
Speaking to NDTV, the Captain of the ship, Capt RK Hukku said, "I suspect there was a steering failure in the Khalijia as it continued to turn after seeing Chitra."
"We could see an accident was going to happen but there was no action taken to prevent it... as the sea was very rough, a few thousand tonnes of water must have entered Chitra," Captain Hukku added.
Commending the rescue team's efforts, he said "it was a very organised rescue operation".
Captian Hukku and his team is also responsible for rescuing 33 people on board the MSC Chitra
"When we saw women on board, there was no time to think," he said.
After a total shutdown for five days, two of the country's premier ports partially reopened on Thursday morning. (
Read: Taking stock of losses)
The Indian Navy's Western Naval Command undertook 'Op Pathfinder'. The operation was undertaken to safely escort 13 vessels in and out of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Mumbai Port Trust.
The channel was rendered dangerous for navigation by the presence of numerous floating and sunken containers after two merchant ships MV Khalijia and MSC Chitra collided off the coast of Mumbai on Saturday morning and over 200 containers from MSC Chitra fell into the water. The channel was surveyed continuously for three days prior to undertaking the operation.